Method for management of communication devices in an access network and a related access unit

ABSTRACT

Managing a plurality of Communication devices in an access network by successively establishing a temporary point-to-point layer two connection from a management server to each of the communication devices of the plurality of communication devices during a management phase.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from European Patent Application No.04290905.1, filed on Apr. 5, 2004 in the European Patent Office, theentire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention relates to a method for management of a pluralityof Communication devices in an access network as described in preambleof claim 1 and an access unit as described in the preamble of claim 10.

2. Description of Related Arts

Such management-method and related device are generally known in theart. The management method, for instance configuration, ofcommunications devices in an Internet Protocol network access network isrealised using the Internet Protocol layer for provisioning the layerthree connection between a management network element such asconfiguration server and a to be managed device, required for managementpurposes.

Such a communications network comprises an Access Unit and an Ethernet,ATM or a MPLS aggregation network, wherein the Access Unit, such as aDigital subscriber line access unit, couples the communications device,such as a Digital subscriber line modem, to the aggregation network. Thecommunications device being coupled to the Access Unit over an ATMconnection.

This communication required for the management of the communicationsdevices is based on the Internet Protocol address further referred to asIP-address, for addressing the management application at thecommunications device.

Currently, the communication required for the management of thecommunications devices is based on Internet Protocol, where the InternetProtocol addresses of the communication devices are unique addresses.

In some situations however, no unique IP-address is assigned to thecommunications devices (communication devices may have the same IPaddress) or the communication devices do not have an externally knownIP-address. Then it is not possible to use the IP layer for addressingcommunications devices for management purposes and other purposes.

This situation could occur for example due the lack of public IPaddresses, or in a network where the uniqueness of the IP addressesassigned to the communications devices cannot be ensured.

Hence, if there is no unique IP-address available for addressing suchcommunications devices communications devices are not reachable at layerthree and not able to be managed.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide a management method ofa plurality of Communication devices in an access network environmentand a related device of the above known type but where no unique IPaddress is required.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the method asclaimed in claim 1 and the access unit as claimed in claim 10.

Indeed, this object is achieved due to the fact that the access unit,during a communications devices management phase, successivelyestablishes and releases a temporary OSI layer 2 point-to-pointconnection from the configuration server to each of said communicationdevices and that the configuration server, at establishment of each sucha temporary layer 2 point-to-point connection between the configurationserver and the corresponding communication device, manages, for instanceconfigures, the corresponding Communication device of the plurality ofcommunication devices based on a terminal identifier of saidcorresponding communication device.

An additional advantageous feature of the present invention is that isthat no modification on OSI Layer 1 and Layer 2 of the access unit isrequired, hence not leading to a higher cost and complexity of theaccess unit.

Another characterizing embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 2.

The temporary point-to-point layer two connection is established over aswitched virtual connection if an Asynchronous Transmission method isapplied between the access unit and the communication devices.

Another characterizing embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 3.

The temporary point-to-point connection is established over a permanentvirtual connection if an Asynchronous Transmission method in theaggregation network is applied between said access unit and themanagement server.

Another alternative embodiment of the present invention is described inclaim 4.

The point-to-point connection is established over a virtual Local areanetwork pipe VLAN if an Ethernet aggregation network is applied betweenthe access unit and the management server.

A further alternative embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 5.

The temporary point-to-point connection is established over a Labeledswitched path LSP if a Multi Protocol Label Switching aggregationnetwork is applied between the access unit and the management server.

Another characterizing embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 6.

The Terminal identifier is the MAC address of the communication device

A further alternative embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 7.

The Terminal identifier is the organizational unique identifier.

A further alternative embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 8.

The Terminal identifier may also be an identifier of a group ofcommunications devices such as the vendor-name of the terminal togetherwith the model and the version of the terminal.

Another characterizing embodiment of the present invention is describedin claim 9.

The step of successively establishing a temporary point-to-pointconnection from the management server to each of said communicationdevices of said plurality of communication devices, is based onmanagement data of said access unit.

It is to be noticed that the term ‘comprising’, used in the claims,should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listedthereafter. Thus, the scope of the expression ‘a device comprising meansA and B’ should not be limited to devices consisting only of componentsA and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the onlyrelevant components of the device are A and B.

Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term ‘coupled’, also used in theclaims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to directconnections only. Thus, the scope of the expression ‘a device A coupledto a device B’ should not be limited to devices or systems wherein anoutput of device A is directly connected to an input of device B. Itmeans that there exists a path between an output of A and an input of Bwhich may be a path including other devices or means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the invention will becomemore apparent and the invention itself will be best understood byreferring to the following description of an embodiment taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a communications network CN such as an access networkAN wherein the present invention is implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following paragraphs, referring to the drawing, an implementationof the method for management of a plurality of Communication devicesCD1.CDx in an access network AN according to the present invention willbe described. In the first paragraph of this description the mainelements of the communications network as presented in FIG. 1 aredescribed. In the second paragraph, all connections between the beforementioned elements and described means are defined. In the succeedingparagraph the actual execution of the method for session establishmentis described.

Such an access network AN comprises a large number of communicationdevices CD1.CDx and a plurality of access units however in order to keepsimplicity in this description it is chosen to present only one accessunit UA. In this embodiment a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexeris chosen although also any other access unit could have been chosen.

Furthermore there is a management server for managing the communicationsdevices. This management server MS is in this embodiment chosen to be aconfiguration server but could also be any IP device trying to establisha layer three connection with the communication device.

Each of the communication devices are coupled to an access unit UA overan ATM connection L1, L2, Lx although this might have been any otherlayer two connection such as Ethernet or MPLS.

The configuration server MS is coupled to the access unit AU over anATM, Ethernet or MPLS aggregation network.

In order to explain the working of the present invention it is supposedthat each of the communications devices are not assigned a uniqueIP-address, although the invention works in case all communicationdevice have a unique public IP address. It is further assumed that at acertain moment in time the communications terminals need to be managed,such as for instance configuring the communication devices at firstoperation.

In the case of customer premises management over IP the access Unit AUsuccessively establishes an IP-connection between the configurationserver MS and the communication devices coupled to the Access Unit AU.However, the establishment of the IP-connection is not possible as nounique public IP address is assigned to the terminals.

Instead the Access Unit AU, during a communications devices managementphase, successively establishes and releases a temporary point-to-pointlayer two connection from the access unit AU to each of thecommunication devices. This temporary point-to-point layer twoconnection being cross-connect to a permanent layer two connectionbetween the access unit and the configuartion server (CS). Theconfiguration server MS, at establishment of each said temporarypoint-to-point layer two connection between the configuration server MSand a corresponding communication device of said plurality ofcommunication devices CD1 . . . CDx, configures the correspondingCommunication device CD1 here for using the terminal identifier of thecorresponding communication device CD1. After the configuration ofcommunications device CD1 the established temporary point-to point layertwo connection is released. Subsequently the Access Unit establishes atemporary point-to-point layer two connection between the configurationserver MS and communication device CD2 which is followed by theconfiguration of communications device CD2 by the configuration serverMS. At termination of the configuration the temporary point-to-pointlayer two connection between the configuration server MS andcommunication device CD2 is released. Successively this is executed foreach of the communication devices to be managed.

It is to be noted that the temporary point-to-point layer two connectionmay be established over a switched virtual connection if an AsynchronousTransmission method is applied between the access unit and thecommunication devices.

It is further to be noted that the temporary point-to-point connectionmay be established over a permanent virtual connection if anAsynchronous Transmission method in the aggregation network is appliedbetween said access unit and the management server or the point-to-pointconnection may be established over a virtual Local area network pipeVLAN if an Ethernet aggregation network is applied between the accessunit and the management server or the temporary point-to-pointconnection may be established over a Labeled switched path LSP if anMulti Protocol Label Switching aggregation network is applied betweenthe access unit and the management server.

It is also to be noted that the step of successively establishing atemporary point-to-point connection from the management server to eachof said communication devices of said plurality of communicationdevices, is based on management data of said access unit.

The terminal identifier may be the MAC address of the terminal, or anyother unique identifier of the communication device such as theorganizational unique identifier (OUI).

The Terminal identifier may also be an identifier of a group ofcommunications devices such as the vendor-name of the terminal togetherwith the model and the version of the terminal.

It is to be remarked that this invention may be applied in an XDSLnetwork where the Communications devices are bridged or routed modemsand the access unit UA is implemented as a Digital Subscriber lineAccess multiplexer. The Links L1, L2, . . . Lx are ATM connections andthe Digital Subscriber line Access multiplexer is coupled to theconfiguration server over an Ethernet or ATM aggregation network.

The present invention may also be applied in a mobile network, acable-network or even a fiber network.

A final remark is that embodiments of the present invention aredescribed above in terms of functional blocks. From the functionaldescription of these blocks, given above, it will be apparent for aperson skilled in the art of designing electronic devices howembodiments of these blocks can be manufactured with well-knownelectronic components. A detailed architecture of the contents of thefunctional blocks hence is not given.

While the principles of the invention have been described above inconnection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood thatthis description is made only by way of example and not as a limitationon the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for management of a plurality ofcommunication devices in an access network, each communication device ofsaid plurality of communication devices being coupled to a managementserver via an access unit, wherein said method comprises: said accessunit, during a communications devices management phase, if said accessunit is unable to establish a layer three Internet Protocol (IP)connection between said management server and said communicationdevices, successively establishing a point-to-point connection from saidmanagement server to each of said communication devices of saidplurality of communication devices; and said management server, atestablishment of each said point-to-point connections between saidmanagement server and a corresponding communication device of saidplurality of communication devices, managing configuring saidcorresponding communication device of said plurality of communicationdevices based on a terminal identifier of said correspondingcommunication device, wherein the point-to-point connection is a layertwo connection.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thepoint-to-point connection is established over a switched virtualconnection if an asynchronous transmission method is applied betweensaid access unit and said communication devices.
 3. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein said point-to-point connection is established over apermanent virtual connection if an asynchronous transmission method inan aggregation network is applied between said access unit and saidmanagement server.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein saidpoint-to-point connection is established over a virtual local areanetwork pipe if an Ethernet aggregation network is applied between saidaccess unit and said management server.
 5. The method according to claim1, wherein said point-to-point connection is established over a labeledswitched path if a multi protocol label switching aggregation network isapplied between said access unit and said management server.
 6. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein said terminal identifier is the MACaddress of the communication device.
 7. The method according to claim 1,wherein said terminal identifier is the organizational uniqueidentifier.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said terminalidentifier is an identifier of a group of communications devices.
 9. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein said successively establishing apoint-to-point connection from said management server to each of saidcommunication devices of said plurality of communication devices isbased on management data of said access unit.
 10. An access unit formanagement of a plurality of communication devices in a access network,each communication device of said plurality of communication devicesbeing coupled to a configuration server via said access unit, whereinsaid access unit comprises: a connecting part which, if said connectingpart is unable to establish a layer three Internet Protocol (IP)connection between said management server and said communicationdevices, successively establishes a point-to-point connection from saidmanagement server to each of said communication devices of saidplurality of communication devices during a communications devicesmanagement phase, wherein the point-to-point connection is a layer twoconnection.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein atestablishment of each said point-to-point connection between saidmanagement server and a corresponding communication device of saidplurality of communication devices, the corresponding communicationdevice is not assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
 12. The accessunit according to claim 10, wherein each of said communication devicesof said plurality of communication devices during the communicationsdevices management phase is not assigned an Internet Protocol (IP)address.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of saidcommunication devices of said plurality of communication devices is adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem.
 14. The method according to claim13, wherein the access unit is a DSL access unit.
 15. The access unitaccording to claim 10, wherein each of said communication devices ofsaid plurality of communication devices is a digital subscriber line(DSL) modem.
 16. The access unit according to claim 15, wherein theaccess unit is a DSL access unit.